A few years ago, I quit contributing to the Tall Table. I was tired of the same old arguments. I continued to drop in occasionally to see what was being discussed. Most often, I dropped by just for some comic relief.

Well nothing has changed-- it has even gotten worse. The same 7 or 8 people sniping at each other with no hope of any kind of rational discussion. I'm tired of it and am calling it quits on following this forum.

To Needles: I blame the total deterioration of this forum firmly on YOU. You are the most disagreeable person I have ever seen, regardless of a political view. You turn every post and comment into a name-calling insult. You cherry-pick references to support your views. You insult comments and references given by other members. Half of your comments are outright lies without any supporting references. The words and terms that you use only show that you don't know what the true definitions of the words you use really mean. You are just an argumentative dumb-ass piece of sh*t of a person. I truly feel sorry for you.

Eeygore: I have no idea why you even hang around here. You try to be the voice of reason and discussion, but no one else is interested in reason and discussion.

The entire world operates on valid discussion and compromise. In general life, economics and politics, no one gets everything they want. Different sides have to make compromises that gives them some of what they want. There are no absolute winners and losers, but at least there is progress.

No one corners the market on good ideas. We should all be able to spot and support good ideas, no matter where they come from. Be enough of a man to admit when an idea is good or workable, but comes from someone you generally disagree with..

I am so disappointed and sorry for the shape of politics in this country. This forum is just a mirror of the sorry state we are in.

Enjoy hearing yourself talk. No one is listening and you are unable to convince any here with your arguments.

Enjoy hearing yourself talk. No one is listening and you are unable to convince any here with your arguments.


Do you honestly think we don’t know that?

Interesting these responses don’t exactly match his description.

Look, this is a form of entertainment. And like I said early when I got on here, this is eye-opening, because I’ve never run into people in the real world like I find on here. On the other hand, people behind screens don’t always act like they do in person.

You also build some form of a relationship on here after time. For example, I miss JOG, he had some of the funniest things ever written on here. I feel like I could sit down and have an actual beer at a bar store with Sew, or Eegore. I would like to talk to Mspring in person one day, because I can’t follow the indentation style of his posts. And I refuse to believe Thumper doesn’t have an original thought and goes through life speaking in one sentence talking points. Needles is a real world result Beavis and Butthead having a child.

For myself, I just try to write original stuff on here, or copy and paste interesting topics. I have a very conservative ideology, but I am not a MAGA in the sense some on here imagine a MAGA person is. I support Trump because I would never vote for a national candidate in favor of expanding abortion. That’s my number one issue. Also, I feel like Trump will protect the nation from outside forces better than anybody else. In the future, I feel like JD Vance or Marco Rubio will carry that mantle into the future.

As for Bobbert, I thought he first popped up just a couple of months ago. We had some exchanges but I didn’t know he’d been participating for years. I don’t remember him, but thanks for telling me goodbye. Which is unfortunate because we need more liberals on here.

Look, this is a form of entertainment. And like I said early when I got on here, this is eye-opening, because I’ve never run into people in the real world like I find on here. On the other hand, people behind screens don’t always act like they do in person.

 I agree.

Most MAGATs have let their religious beliefs slop over into the necessarily secular world of politics, so their judgment is impaired. They don't like having that pointed out. The Trumpedo corruption blindness is a dead givaway.

I have 2 kinds of post. I post information, and I post argument. WARNING! I use the same kind of argument that YOU use. MAGATs do NOT realize there are RULES in debate. I follow them until YOU break them, then there are no rules. If you use lies and disinformation, that means I can, too. If you make sh1t up, so can I. MAGATs CLAIM to be pissed over the way I present things, when all I'm doing is showing them how stupid their beliefs are. Beliefs, because there is no reality where they are right.

I understand the frustration you’re describing. If moderation is perceived as uneven or inconsistent, that can definitely make tensions worse rather than better.

At the same time, the point I was trying to make wasn’t really about moderators as the primary solution.

Even on forums with very active moderation, discussions can still deteriorate if participants themselves default to insults, labels, and escalation. Moderators can step in occasionally, but they can’t realistically manage the tone of every exchange in real time.

In the end a forum’s culture is mostly shaped by how members choose to engage with each other.

If people respond to arguments instead of attacking the person, avoid assuming bad motives, and simply refuse to engage with obvious provocation, the temperature of discussions usually drops on its own.

Moderation can help set boundaries, but the day-to-day tone of a community ultimately comes from the participants themselves.

I help moderate a forum in the Netherlands where I have been active for many years. Occasionally I step in to guide the tone of discussions, but in practice that rarely requires much intervention. The main reason is that the community itself sets the tone. Many members know each other outside the forum and friendships have formed over time.

One important rule we learned early on is that certain types of discussion can easily damage communities if they become dominated by conflict. In particular, political arguments often escalate in ways that push people apart rather than bring them together.

Over the years we also noticed a recurring pattern that existed long before social media. Almost every forum eventually encounters a certain type of participant who thrives on conflict.

For some people, online arguments provide a strong psychological reward. The interaction itself becomes the motivation. It can involve a need for attention, a need to be right, frustration being vented, or a sense of fighting against “wrong ideas.”

When someone sees themselves as battling bad beliefs, aggressive communication can start to feel justified or even virtuous.

Interestingly, this type of interaction often intensifies when others try to correct it. Reasonable participants respond by defending their group, correcting facts, pointing out tone, or trying to argue logically.

All of those responses are understandable, but they also create something else: attention and conflict. That is exactly the fuel that keeps the cycle going.

The pattern usually develops like this: a provocative post appears, several people respond, emotions rise, and eventually only the most combative voices remain active in the thread. Over time this can start to dominate the atmosphere of a forum.

Many long-time online communities have seen this happen. When discussions become permanently adversarial, quieter and more constructive participants slowly stop contributing.

Moderation can help set boundaries, but the long-term health of a forum is mostly determined by the culture its members maintain together.

If a community values respectful discussion and the enormous amount of knowledge that members have contributed over the years, protecting that atmosphere becomes important for everyone involved.


One of my interests in the Dutch forum is that I've built a reputation there for repairing and manufacturing tuning parts. It's my hobby, and I enjoy sharing my inventions. I also finance my hobby with the income it generates. This has led to my being called a forum guru, which I'd like to get rid of, by the way. But it's really great to have my house regularly full of forum members who come to see what I'm up to. People often arrange to meet up and go for a drive, and then my house is the destination. Then you also see the people behind the posts, and that's the best part of a forum. And it's really cool to see and hear what people are doing and building, and how friendships have formed.

Our forum had its downturns. Currently, there's a decline because the helmet requirement was introduced two years ago. The government wants to ban two-stroke engines and has created environmental zones, which are expanding every year. So our forum will eventually shrink considerably. We are already working on redesigning the forum to reduce costs.